


Zuko Goes Shopping

by spiralicious



Series: Icy Smirk, Fiery Death Glare [8]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: AU, Gen, Humor, M/M, Slice of Life, fiery death glare, icy smirk
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-11-29
Updated: 2012-11-29
Packaged: 2017-11-19 20:56:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 898
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/577565
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spiralicious/pseuds/spiralicious
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Zuko decides its time he starts doing his own grocery shopping like a grown up instead of letting his boyfriend do it for him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Zuko Goes Shopping

**Author's Note:**

> A little Meet the Kids backstory. Thanks for pinking, Kira.

Zuko chastised himself for being even a little bit apprehensive. It was only grocery shopping. He was perfectly capable of acting like the adult he was supposed to be and do his own grocery shopping, for real food. No stocking up on convenient junk food. No depending on leftovers from the Tea Shop or Uncle. And most importantly, no depending on Hakoda to do it. 

After the latently embarrassing conversation that started with “Did you know you only have peanut butter, expired milk and some weird smelling thing in a Tupperware container in your fridge?” Which was followed by, “We have milk?” Hakoda took it upon himself to actually go grocery shopping. It made sense at the time, since he’d just started living there, instead of a hotel, when he was working. At first it was just little things, supplies for dinner that night and fruit for breakfast. Sometimes he would even include Zuko, but then it escalated to the point that he was doing a week’s worth of shopping the first night he drove up, no matter how long or short his stent there would be and even if he had to work a full day before, after the three hour drive to get there. 

Once Mai pointed out what was going on, Zuko was thoroughly embarrassed and decided that this time, Hakoda was going to come back to a fully stocked fridge. He made Mai come with him. She ate about half their food anyway, so he felt she should at least be there to help carry it home. It did not take long for Zuko to realize the folly in this logic, but by then it was too late. He was already at the store, wandering helplessly, while Mai followed him disinterestedly. 

They had attempted to make a list beforehand. The process had consisted of Zuko rambling and Mai scribbling down notes. It had resulted in a grocery list but it was unhelpful. 

“Cereal, stuff for lunches, barbeque chips, man food, bananas, vegetables, Mai snacks, beer. I can’t buy beer. What is this?” Zuko looked at Mai. 

“It’s what you told me to write down.” Mai seemed more interested in smelling the coffee beans than their conversation. 

Zuko sighed. They were doomed. How were they going to get a week’s worth of groceries if they couldn’t write a grocery list? He didn’t even look up as Mai dropped two bags of ground coffee into the cart. 

Mai could only handle Zuko being pathetic for so long. Taking pity on her ex-boyfriend, she decided to actually be helpful, or at least try. “Do you cook at all?”

“Of course.” 

Mai stared at Zuko until he fessed up. “I use the rice cooker and the microwave frequently.”

“Does Hakoda cook?”

“He makes breakfast sometimes.”

“What?”

“Eggs and bacon or something.” 

Mai pulled the cart along until they found the eggs and Mai tossed in the healthier turkey breakfast sausage, instead of bacon. They continued on this way through the store, going over what Zuko and Hakoda ate all week, meal by meal, and hunted their way through the store finding the various components. Mai tossed in her favorite snacks whenever they came across them. Eventually, they had breakfasts, sandwich fixings and non-perishable sides so Hakoda could pack lunches, enough snack food to keep Mai happy, several of something called an artisan pie in both the beef and potato, and vegetable curry flavors, cans of soup, and some bagged boneless chicken that Zuko was fairly certain he could cook. They really were on a roll, until they came upon the produce. Neither of them had a clue on how to pick out what was any good. Zuko was fairly certain he could get away with bagged salad and bags of frozen mixed veggies, but fresh fruit was another story all together. Mai, wanting to get this misadventure over with, made her way over to the clerk working the produce section. Zuko could not hear them, but it looked like she was batting her eyelashes and playing coy until the clerk was picking out fruit for her. 

Zuko was staring at her in shock when she came back to the cart and she didn’t like it. “What?”

“Who are you?”

Mai rolled her eyes. “I saw Ty Lee do it.”

“It was creepy.” 

“Jerk.”

Having taken about three times as long as the average person, they made their way to the checkout line. Mai disappeared as Zuko started putting their bounty on the conveyor belt. When she returned, she dropped a box down with the groceries and stood off to the side.

“Why am I buying you tampons?”

Mai just glared until Zuko resumed taking food out of the cart.

Now paid for and bagged, Zuko realized that he had miscalculated how much food he could really carry all the way back to his apartment. Mai was little help as she carried a single bag leaving the rest for Zuko. They plodded along this way, overloaded and a bit far from home, until they came across the first bench. Mai stopped and took part of Zuko’s bags. 

“Call you uncle before you drop something.”

“I’m not going to drop anything!”

Mai wasn’t budging. Zuko sighed and got out his cell phone. Luckily, Iroh was very understanding, even if he did chuckle almost the entire ride back to Zuko’s apartment.


End file.
